Why I Bought the Lifetime Subscription to Star Trek Online

on 01/29/2010

I looked at forum posts and comments on Massively this week while making my decision about whether I should invest $239 into Star Trek Online up front. STO seems to be a very divisive topic among MMO players, especially since there’s apparently a lot of anger at Cryptic over their handling of Champions Online. I admit, I know very little about CO and why people are angry. I DO know that it only came out four months ago, and it makes me wonder what shape World of Warcraft was in four months after launch. I also know that while the business is still overseen by the same people, STO and CO have different development teams. Now to my reasons for pulling the trigger one hour before headstart of STO and buying the lifetime sub.

1) Playing open beta made me giddy. It was just plain FUN. I know many disagree and don’t find it fun. I do. And that probably has a lot to do a lot with my second reason:

2) I love the Star Trek universe. And now I get to occupy it. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

3) I want the extras – playable Borg and two extra character slots. I admit this may not be the best of reasons – it’s possible these will be available to everyone at some future date. (Although I didn’t look at the forums about this to see if the team made any declarations one way or the other.) I just want them. Now. Gimme.

4) I’ve been anxious to get into a sci-fi MMO. I was disappointed when Blizzard announced that Starcraft was not the IP for their next MMO (although I know they have good reasons for that.) Star Wars Old Republic will be another year. And besides, that’s not REALLY sci-fi. Jedi force powers, while very cool, are magic. STO is all about how to best use the technology you have available to you, and I’m very excited to explore that more.

5) I’m still playing WoW, and I don’t have a lot of time in general to game. Wait, what? How is that a reason to buy a lifetime subscription to another time-consuming game? Well that’s just the thing. It’s gonna take me a while to get to end game. And now I have a lifetime sub and don’t have to worry that maybe I shouldn’t have paid $15 for that one month I didn’t get to play very much. (Like, um, when Cataclysm comes out…) It takes some of the stress away and I can just relax and enjoy the game at my own very casual pace.

Ok, that’s it. To those of you who preordered STO – Happy Headstart Day!

Your last reason is precisely why I would consider getting a Lifetime sub. I don’t play WOW precisely because I don’t ever want to feel like I should be playing it instead of something else. I think that is how the “addiction” starts.

The reason I am hesitant to get a lifetime sub, cost aside, is what if STO goes the way of Tabula Rasa or The Matrix? Then I’m just out $240, which would kind of suck.

You’re right – it’s a risk! I’m betting it will last because of the strength of the IP and gameplay. Only time will tell. Hopefully I won’t be making a post a year from now called “Why I wish I hadn’t bought the lifetime sub….”

I really want a good sci-fi MMO as well, but have found STO too buggy and half-hearted for my own tastes. Ground combat is especially un-fun. Unfortunately, no MMO has been as polished as WoW when it first launched. (I’ll never regret picking up the original collector’s edition on day 1.)

You really hit the nail on the head, IMO, when you mentioned the sense of awe upon first visiting Ironforge. (My own experience was with the Undercity, slowly walking through the area where Arthas slew his father, listening to the whispers.) No one else puts that much love into their MMOs, yet.

I’m a big fan of the Star Trek universe as well! I thought the MMO was interesting… but aspects of it got tedious for me. I wished I liked it better than I did. Oh well, I’m looking forward to seeing how well they do with the new Star Wars MMO. 😀 And what on earth is Blizzard working on for their next MMO. New IP franchise? Could be anything… not knowing is driving me crazy!

I had to review the STO closed and open beta for an online magazine and I must say that the experience, while calling upon every trekkie sense I have, wasn’t enough to even make me ponder on purchasing a lifetime subscription. And even a normal sub, I’m divided between trying STO or going for EVE (quitting WoW as it stands).

The comparison I made was that STO is a big rough diamond. It does have potential, it can become a MMO that trekkies (and even non-trekkies) will love, but that depends solely on the direction that Cryptic takes it. As it stands, I view it too much of a risky investment with still quite a few rough edges (I simply *hate* the “all-purpose F key”, was hoping for a ST:Bridge Commander experience).

I’m not trying to make you feel bad about your choice, I just find it odd that Cryptic offered such a “juicy” sub option with such a quick deadline… I get the feeling that they were hoping people would leap without looking. 😛

Here’s to me being wrong and that you’ll enjoy your STO adventures to the fullest! 🙂

Im holding out for APB , a cross between mmo and shooter. While not being free to play, it doesn’t have a subscription or microtransactions, so am interested to see what payment method they decide on. I currently play WoW too much to stop, and I wont pay for a 2nd subscription (or a huge up front lifetime subscription), so think this may be the next game for me.

World of Warcraft had a rocky first couple of weeks because the demand for the game far outstripped what they had anticipated. I suppose that’s the kind of problem you want to have, though, and after a week they’d brought a slew of backup servers online and fixed most of the queue and load issues.

Aside from that there was a huge world to explore with tons of quest content and the beginnings of endgame to keep people occupied at the four month mark. The problems I’ve seen with CO stem from bugs, lack of content, and the feeling amongst players that CO is being ignored as they focus on STO.

Which is probably good news for STO players. But CO at four months is nowhere near as polished as WoW at four months.

I’ll probably chek out STO on the strength of the IP alone. If you’re looking for a true kickass science fiction MMO then you should also look into Jumpgate: Evolution.